Credit Counseling Expert Witnesses

Howard Brod Brownstein, CTP, is a nationally-known Turnaround and Crisis Management professional with over 40 years of experience. He serves as a President of The Brownstein Corporation, where, in addition to leading turnaround assignments, advising senior management, and fulfilling a senior management role, he has overall responsibility for the firm’s transactional activities and for the marketing of its services to clients.

Mr. Brownstein is a Certified Turnaround Professional (CTP). He has served on the International Board of Directors of the Turnaround Management Association (TMA) and its Executive Committee, and chaired its Audit Committee. Mr. Brownstein received TMA’s “Outstanding Individual Contribution” award in 2007. He also serves on the Board of the American Bankruptcy Institute (ABI), co-chairs its Complex Financial Restructuring Program, co-chaired its Mid Atlantic region for several years, and is a Contributing Editor of the ABI Journal. He serves on the Governing Board of the Commercial Finance Association (CFA) Education Foundation.

Mr. Brownstein is a frequent speaker at professional and educational programs, including at Harvard Business School, Villanova Law School, Northeastern University, ABI, the American Bar Association, and TMA. He has authored over thirty articles, and has served on the Editorial Board of The Journal of Corporate Renewal, and serves as a Contributing Editor of abfJournal.

Background - Previously, Mr. Brownstein was Managing Director of Enprotech Corp., a wholly owned subsidiary of ITOCHU (formerly C. Itoh), one of the world’s largest companies. Enprotech acted as ITOCHU’s acquisition and holding company for engineering service and product businesses with over $1 billion in assets. Mr. Brownstein has served in several senior executive and board positions, including CEO and COO of The Stone Group, a leading multinational manufacturer of comfort and safety equipment for the passenger rail industry with operations in the United States, Spain, and England.

Litigation Support - with extensive experience in valuing, financing, and selling businesses, Mr. Brownstein has served as Chief Restructuring Officer and Financial Advisor to debtors, lenders, and Creditor Committees in bankruptcy proceedings, and as a litigation expert in several cases, including the landmark Merry-Go-Round bankruptcy.

Areas of Expertise:

Business Operations Business Valuation Turnaround Management

Restructuring Bankruptcy Corporate Governance

Education: BS (Econ.), Wharton School, University of Pennsylvania; BA College of Arts & Sciences, University of Pennsylvania; JS, Harvard Law School; MBA, Harvard Business School.

View Howard Brownstein's Consulting Profile.

Peter W. Leibundgut, Esq., has 30 years of transactional, public, and private commercial and real estate finance, legal and bank consulting experience. He currently provides a range of financial services to borrowers and domestic and foreign private and institutional investors in connection with structuring, placing, and conducting due diligence in Commercial and Real Estate Financing Transactions.

Mr. Leibundgut has decades of experience performing due diligence investigations, structuring, closing and restructuring public and commercial financial transactions on behalf of lenders; county, state and federal authorities and issuers; underwriters; finance companies; private equity and hedge fund investors; and borrowers.

Litigation Support - Mr. Leibundgut serves as an expert witness and provides litigation support in cases involving contract disputes and complex public and commercial finance matters centering on debtor and creditor rights. He has served as an expert, provided litigation support, rendered expert reports, and testified in cases involving several billion dollars over the last seven years. Three of his cases were nationally recognized and several were cases of first impression. Mr. Leibundgut has also represented the FDIC in forensic commercial loan review.

Areas of Expertise:

Ponzi Schemes Lender Liability Legal Malpractice Whole Bank Acquisitions Shared Loss Matters Fraud and Gross Negligence Niche Lending Contract Expertise Factoring Securitizations Bonds Syndications Healthcare

Commercial Real Estate P3s Transportation Purchase Orders Public and Private Offerings Letters of Credit Secured and Unsecured Transactions Bank Policy and Procedure Bankruptcy Derivatives Equipment Leasing Microfinance Aircraft and Vessel Finance

View Peter Leibundgut's Consulting Profile.

Pat McElroy, Jr. has more than 40 years of experience in the Banking Industry as a Regulator, Banker and Consultant. He has provided various management, lending, operational and regulatory services to financial institutions throughout the United States. Mr. McElroy has extensive experience as an expert witness and has been qualified in civil, criminal and bankruptcy proceedings. He is courtroom seasoned and also has high profile case experience. 

Areas of Expertise:

Bank Policies and Procedures Forgery Fraud Lender Liability Lending Related Matters Bond Claims

Regulatory Compliance Credit & Collections Ordinary Care Employee Crime Industry Standards Bankruptcy Proceedings

As Author of Anatomy of Credit Scores and Founder / President of Easy Credit Relief, Inc., Douglas Minor focuses on helping and teaching people how to understand the credit system. Showing them the best ways to use credit and maximize their score.

Doug has spent the last 25 years reviewing personal credit reports and financial profiles of individuals. He has happily been quoted and interviewed for articles appearing in FoxBusiness.com, Yahoo! Finance, and Entrepreneur Magazine.

During this time he has enjoyed answering thousands of questions regarding credit scores and the information contained in credit reports.

Having a pragmatic disposition as well a broad base of experience in business he has the unique knowledge and academics to assess damages. He has performed training classes to audiences of all levels of sophistication including Professional Groups, Lenders, CEO’s, and Consumers. As a respected Expert in Credit Related Damages, Credit Reporting, and Scoring he serves as a litigation consultant / expert witness for those involved in credit damages litigation.

John B. Schnure, President of Cambria Associates, has 40 years of experience in Banking, Bank Management, Lending, Loan Review Due Diligence, and Commercial Real Estate. He has worked with Cambria Associates for over 25 years and has worked with over 100 banks as clients over the years.

Background - Mr. Schnure holds an MBA from Columbia University with majors in International Business and Real Estate, and a BBA from University of Cincinnati with a major in Finance. He has post-graduate study at Dartmouth College and University of Virginia Business Schools. Mr. Schnure has been President and CEO of three Chicago area banks/thrifts, and prior to that was Vice President of The Northern Trust Company in commercial lending and management.

Litigation Support - John B. Schnure has successfully completed 15 expert witness engagements in the last 3 years in banking, lending, and/or real estate. The clients he represented prevailed in each case. His expertise is available to counsel representing both debtors and creditors.

Areas of Expertise:

Bank Fraud Banking Negligence Due Diligence Loan Policies Banking / Regulatory Practice Violations Underwriting Closings Servicing Loan Review / Administration Regulatory Repair

Role of Auditors Insider Transactions Workouts Bankruptcy Fiduciary Duties Landlord / Tenant Disputes Check Kiting Lender Liability Loan Document Compliance Commercial Real Estate Lending

View Cambria Associates' Consulting Profile.